Highroad Cave can be easy to miss, located in Limgrave and hidden away on the western edge of the canyon heading out to sea just north of Saintsbridge ― though you’ll need to access it from further south and the area above Murkwater Catacombs. Inside you’ll find wolves, bats, and land octopi, plus the Guardian Golem boss to wrap up the journey, so it’s not something to try until you’ve leveled up quite a bit and are comfortable taking on named enemies.
We’d also definitely recommend packing a torch for this one as it can get very dark inside. One other point of warning is that you’ll navigate several drops you can’t climb back out of, and, as you can’t fast travel from caves or dungeons, if you find yourself outmatched there’s no way out except death or beating the boss.
Exploring Highroad Cave
Once inside, you’ll find the obligatory Site of Grace, along with a Summoning Pool if you fancy some backup. After finding your first Cave Moss deposit, carefully drop down the hole ahead using the conveniently placed ledges and you’ll find a cave with three wolves to take care of (two are hidden away to the left). There’s a tunnel at the rear of this cave leading to another two wolves, one an Alpha, where you can pick up a Golden Rune (1).
After dropping down even further, you can head up the slope to the left to find more Cave Moss and then backtrack to the right for another cave with two more wolves. From here, the left path winds around to a body holding Arteria Leaves, but beware of the wolf hiding round the corner to the left.
You can drop down here (the right path leads round to the same spot) to find four more wolves, including another white Alpha, so tread carefully. As well as some more Cave Moss, you’ll also find some Fire Grease to coast your blade with flames (which might come in handy). Follow the path along and you’ll reach the central area that’s full of bats. Hugging the wall to the left, drop down to the first ledge, where you’ll meet your first winged enemy, before spinning around to find a second hidden away just under where you came in, sitting by a corpse with a Smithing Stone (1).
Head back along the ledge and drop down to the smaller waterfall, where two bats will be guarding the entrance to a cave that also hosts several small land octopi but also another Smithing Stone (2) and a Golden Rune (4). The next part is tricky, as you need to jump from the edge of the waterfall to the broken pillar below. It’s a tight jump that’s easily missed, but thankfully there’s a Stake of Marika by the entrance, so if you do die you can respawn there to skip all the wolves and easily recollect any dropped runes. You can then avoid the waterfall jump by using the taller pillar to the right as you respawn, dropping down to the small candle-lit ledge and jumping to the middle.
Down at ground level, you’ll get to fight off the last of the bats, including a couple of strays you might have missed, so a little scouting around with a ranged weapon along the way can lessen the trouble. Once cleared you’ll find the Shamshir curved blade nearby as a reward.
How to find and defeat the Guardian Golem in Highroad Cave
From here you have the option to head up the steps and jump across to the tunnel to the left, where you’ll face off against a giant land octopus before following the tunnel around to the right to find a Furlcalling Finger Remedy on the ledge that you can see from the central area. Alternatively, you can just jump to the submerged pillar leading through the large waterfall to find some Silver Fireflies in a cave before traversing the mist to wake the Guardian Golem boss.
The Golem is tough but not very agile, with weak spots in its lower legs so you’ll want to be targeting those ankles, which can cause it to drop to the floor leaving it open to critical attacks to the chest. The Golem’s own attacks are mostly in front, along with a wider swing of its ax, so if you stick to the rear of those feet you can avoid the worst of things, but be prepared to dodge out to avoid its ground-pound hits (or to top up your health). You can try ranged attacks if you’re set up for it, and the Golem is vulnerable to magic so you don’t have to get too close and personal if you’d rather keep your distance ― and, of course, having a spectral Ash to call in as an ally and/or distraction can go a long way regardless of your build.
Once the Golem is defeated, you’ll be rewarded with the Blue Dancer Charm, a talisman that provides an increase in damage the lighter your loadout gets (so stowing any secondary weapons will give your primary a bit more kick), then you can use the wispy shortcut back to the entrance and tick off one more thing from that substantial Elden Ring to-do list.
